Astronomical Research Observatory

0.81m Telescope - 32 Inch Telescope

Photo by John Stone

Astro-Research 32in Robotic
Telescope

The Astro-Research 32 inch telescope
( 0.81 meter ) can reach an unfiltered limiting magnitude
of 22.18 magnitude in a five minute exposure using a SBIG STL-1001E. This capability was confirmed on August 5, 2006 while
imaging NEO 2001 PJ9.

The
first optician we selected for this project was a total failure leaving us will
a completed mirror that had severe astigmatism, surface scratches and roughness
after 18 months in their west coast ( California) optical shop. Finally
after months of begging just to get our mirror blank returned to us, we finally
hooked up with a reputable optician who completed the 0.81m mirror for us in
less than 30 days! The optician... Mike Lockwood of
Lockwood Custom Optics. This telescope is regarded as one of the
worlds top performing instruments in 2008
conducting near earth object follow-up observations with measures to unfiltered
magnitude 23.7.

M 16 - Eagle Nebula - Exposure time 4
seconds

First image from the Astro-Research
0.81m ( 32 inch ) telescope

Thanks go to John Pratte of JP
Astrocraft for all his help on this long term project.

During this first year of
operation not one telephone call or email was sent to Software Bisque regarding
setup or operation of the MKS 4000. In the first year the MKS 4000 functioned
perfectly on every one of the 21,097 slews. Not a single hic-cup occurred while
tracking or slewing using the Telescope Control System. Even if the main
computer went down, and it did, the MKS 4000 kept on tracking and told the
computer where it was without homing after re-boot. During the first year only one T-point
model was ran to increase pointing accuracy. The MKS 4000 functioned so well
that we never instituted PEC and never enacted ProTrack.

The
MKS 4000 by Software Bisque has been operating for over 4 years without a single
failure. Clearly this is a testament to the quality and engineering of
this telescope control system. The 1.3m (50 inch) telescope currently uses the same telescope controller.